Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension Lower A ARms-Revised by Ford? CSVT

Had the car at Ford today, said that aswell as the clutch, the A arm bushs are completly worn out. Said that it costs $1300 to change them out!!!!

Anyone know anything about this, taking a look this evening, can't be that much for labour alone!

I've been pricing this out. I was quoted at 4.3 hours for the left one, and 1.3 for the right, so that's 5.6 hours, at least for the early style ones. I don't know if the later type would be better or not.

Anyway, factory service manual has them putting the car on a lift and dropping the whole subframe/engine to get at these things.

Sounds high, to me, depending on their hourly rate, and how much they charge for parts.

I was just quoted $765 for struts/springs/control arms installation, and I thought that was high. (I'll probably do it myself)

control arms: did pass side myself, driver side cost me $200 plus alignment, but I was quoted as high as $400 (alignment included).

You have to shop around: it all depends on the dealership. they can always go by the book and charge you for the full time (e.g. "4.3 hours times $100 an hour, but it's a big job, so we'll cut you some slack and throuw an alignment in for free"). Alternatively, they can remember that it takes their tech about 45 minutes to actually do the job, so they make money when they charge me $200 anyway.

Yep I am finding out about the dealership. Quoted $1400 to replace clutch!

Looked okay, so will wait for the moment, but you have to drop the engine for it? Looks fairly simple job.

I think the DIY'ers either put the bolts in with threads up (contrary to the factory service manual...) or they drop one side of the subframe at a time, just enough to get the bolts in with threads down. Maybe it's only the driver's side...? But I think it's the tranny or something that's in the way. Not sure. Getting ready, but haven't done this yet, myself.

I don't know how old your car is, but it's very possible that your front control arm bushings are worn. The only thing I'd balk at is that price.

On the driver side 2 bolts cannot be removed as the transaxle is located directly over top. My suggestion (how the dealer did it) would be to cut the heads off the 2 offending bolts and then reinsert the new ones from the bottom up. The nuts are nylocks so they SHOULDN'T come loose. However, I cross-drilled the bolts and then safety wired them (I'm ANAL)!

The stealership is quoting you the "book time" for labour. More than likely, they'll charge you for the proper method (remove/move the transaxle/subframe) but use the "quickie" method.

Safety wire...

Nice tip.

from what I saw, on the drivers side it looked like you could get a wrench in there, with a long breaker bar attached and then undo it?

Leave the car on the ground, wood block and jack under the engine, remove the front and rear roll restrictor bolts, unbolt the subframe on the drivers side, use a pry bar and pull out the bolts. Done it 4 times that way and takes an hour. You might as well install a suspension on the car at the same time. Save you the trouble later.